Cuba’s deepening economic crisis is pushing struggling families into hunger and forcing them to rely on donations and the black market. One Havana mother says she sometimes has no lunch for herself and her daughters, as fuel shortages, daily blackouts and cuts to rationed food impact families across the island.
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Here’s what that could mean for the MideastCorn tortillas in California now must contain folic acid. More states are looking at itMore women are having babies later in life. How to improve your chance of a healthy pregnancyJury finds Instagram and YouTube liable in a landmark social media addiction trialDo-it-yourself projects can save money and build confidence, or do the oppositeEl papa León XIV rechaza en Domingo de Ramos las afirmaciones de que Dios justifica la guerraCalifornia lidera plan para añadir vitamina a tortillas y reducir defectos congénitos entre latinosAs the U.S continues to blockade the island of Cuba families already struggling are being pushed to the brink Edianet, left, and her sister Seinet, center, play with a friend at their home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Cristobal Estrada, left, sends his daughter Edianet, center, with a bag of rice to their home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Yuneisy Riviaux helps her daughter Edianet with her homework at home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Yuneisy Riviaux helps her daughter Seinet to reach for a banana from a friend at their home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. As the U.S continues to blockade the island of Cuba families already struggling are being pushed to the brink Edianet, left, and her sister Seinet, center, play with a friend at their home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Edianet, left, and her sister Seinet, center, play with a friend at their home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Cristobal Estrada, left, sends his daughter Edianet, center, with a bag of rice to their home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Cristobal Estrada, left, sends his daughter Edianet, center, with a bag of rice to their home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Yuneisy Riviaux helps her daughter Edianet with her homework at home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Yuneisy Riviaux helps her daughter Edianet with her homework at home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Yuneisy Riviaux helps her daughter Seinet to reach for a banana from a friend at their home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Yuneisy Riviaux helps her daughter Seinet to reach for a banana from a friend at their home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. neighborhood and has endured a life of hardship, but she never imagined a day would come when she and her little girls would go without lunch. The 42-year-old unemployed mother of two lives in Havana with several other families in a house where the second floor collapsed years ago. “Things have been going very, very badly for me,” Riviaux said as she played with her 2-year-old daughter, Seinet. “Some days I manage to get food.” “But other times I can’t — like right now, when I have to bite my lip and swallow my tears because I don’t have lunch for the girls.”, cuts to the state-run food ration system, and severe shortages of water and medicine have transformed daily life into an ordeal for people like Riviaux, her husband Cristóbal Estrada and their two daughters. A few hours earlier, the 61-year-old Estrada had made breakfast for 7-year-old Edianet: a piece of bread, distributed to all Cubans through the ration book system, with a tiny pat of butter — a luxury a tourist gave the family while wandering through the neighborhood.After dropping Edianet off at school, Estrada set out for Cotorro, about 12 miles away, to get food and money relatives there had offered. During the“He has to see if he can find a ride, a bus or whatever it takes to get there,” Riviaux said. Public transportation in Cuba has been semi-paralyzed because of gasoline shortages since the United States imposed an oil embargo on the island following the— a key oil supplier that stopped making shipments to the island, which produces barely 40% of the crude oil it needs.that have roiled Cubans, who have grappled with years of crisis; the lack of gasoline and basic resources has crippled hospitals and led to soaring prices and food shortages.with 730,000 barrels of oil after the Trump administration let it proceed despite the U.S. energy blockade — marking the first time in three months that an oil delivery reached the island. But that will provide only enough diesel for about nine or 10 days of the island’s needs, experts say.Riviaux and Estrada used to have a small stall outside their house where they sold powdered drinks and simple packaged foods. But in February, Estrada fell ill and was hospitalized with a collapsed lung. The cost of his treatment was devastating; the couple was forced to spend their savings on medicine bought on the black market because state-subsidized pharmacies had none.Now Riviaux sells sweet pastries her sister bakes whenever they can get a bag of flour — which isn’t provided by the meager monthly rations, which include rice, beans, sugar, cooking oil, coffee and a daily bread roll.has so deteriorated that it struggles to provide basic care. Hospitals face a critical backlog, with some 96,000 surgeries pending, including 11,000 for children, according to local authorities and the United Nations. Nearly 5 million people with chronic illnesses lack access to essential medications, while life-saving treatments like radiation treatments for cancer and dialysis for kidney disease have been interrupted for 16,000 and 2,800 patients, respectively. The United Nations launched a $94 million emergency plan this week to support what it called a “life-threatening” crisis for Cubans. According to Francisco Pichón, resident coordinator of the U.N. in Cuba, the appeal comes after a long history of Cuba leading Latin America in maternal health and vaccination rates — successes now at grave risk.By midday, her husband still hadn’t returned, so Riviaux had no choice but to give her 2-year-old a piece of bread and the last of the family’s milk — a donation from Mexico. Riviaux herself went without. Her 7-year-old still gets a free lunch at school, where classes continue despite the national crisis. Riviaux speaks with nostalgia about the time before the COVID-19 pandemic, when, she said, “Cuba had everything.”The ration book each family received before the pandemic contained rice, beans, a liter of milk daily for children, sugar, oil, chicken and ground meat, among some 30 food items and hygiene products. It was only enough to last about 20 days, so families supplemented with purchased in privately run stores using a currency pegged to the U.S. dollar. Stricter U.S. sanctions, which began under the first Trump administration, along with a collapse in tourism triggered by the pandemic and Cuba’s failed economic policies, led to a deep recession. Cuba’s gross domestic product has plummeted by 15% over the last six years, triggering a historic exodus. The island lost more than 1 million inhabitants — roughly 10% of its population — in 2024 alone. Emboldened by the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump has gradually escalated his rhetoric on Cuba, first suggesting he would pursueRiviaux admitted that while she tries to stay out of politics, the harshness of Trump’s rhetoric has left her deeply unsettled. “We heard the news that Trump wanted to take over. What will happen if the U.S. gets involved?” she asked as her husband arrived late in the afternoon. He brought plantains, chicken and enough cash to secure a kilo of rice from a neighbor’s stall — a small relief in an uncertain week.
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